01 Jun Hot Branding Trends for 2017 (and Beyond)

You know how every third article begins with a Bob Dylan song? I’m talking about the prophetic, evergreen, already proverbial The Times They Are a-Changin. Except this time, it finally seems appropriate.

Starting with the Pokémon frenzy and concluding with the US elections, the last couple of months have been nothing but a crazy ride. We’ve witnessed a new wave of distrust in mainstream media, spurring yet another mass immigration to social platforms. AI and virtual reality are no longer a glimpse into the future; rejoice sci-fi nerds, for robots are here to stay.

The new dawn rose for venturing minds, too. A fancy suit and a briefcase are no longer the emblems of a modern entrepreneur. Just run a Google Image search – he (even more importantly, she) is photographed because of, not despite his or her blemishes. As the business world strives towards humanization, individuality, unfiltered imperfection, and authenticity are slowly becoming the staples for success.

For those who want to stay competitive and relevant in 2017, a change of course seems inevitable. The business of branding is no exception – on the contrary. It’s where every corporate change begins, so pay attention.

So Long Millennials, Hello Gen Zers

When asked to share his expertise in addressing millennial crowds, College Humour’s Adam Conover gave a compelling argument against generational targeting. His point proved what savvy businessmen knew all along: that “self-centred”, “spoiled”, “digitally native” Millennials are people too, no different from members of any other artificially delineated cohort.

Be that as it may, it seems that the business world isn’t ready to accept this truth just yet. Until that eventually happens, leading brands will continue adjusting their image to the average generational model. For 2017, this means making a shift from a “narcissistic” Millennial towards a “cynical” Gen Zer. With the former coming to their mid-thirties and the latter graduating from college, the next couple of years will be all about the yet another “hyper-aware”, “multi-tasking” and “technology-reliant” youngster.

Giving Power to the People

Whoever you target, prepare to let go of control. Though declared a trend, giving power to the people isn’t a novelty at all. Such misconception comes from a wrong understanding of the concept we call brand in the first place. The Business Dictionary defines it as a “unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors”. But, is it really something that a company tailors?

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos says no. In his humble opinion, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room”. He’s right, and the current customer behaviour indubitably proves so. This doesn’t mean that companies have no say in how they are perceived in the public eye, of course. It only means that, in order to be understood the way they want, brands will have to be extra careful. In literary terms, they’ll need to establish a plot, but leave the narrative to the people.   

The Two-Way Customer Experience

Though customer experience has been around for decades, it wasn’t until lately that companies have started to notice its importance. Currently, improving the customer journey is a business tip number one, while Walker Information’s report predicts that, come 2020, it is going to be a key brand differentiator.

And, “differentiator” is the right term to start exploring the concept. Since customer experience should be unique for each individual company, it is not something that can be defined in precision, at least not in a few words. What can and should be said about it is that, at this moment, it implies continual interaction between brands and their audience.

The future will probably bring this to the extreme. For the time being, interaction is focused on social media, with customers being engaged through personalized campaigns. In the next couple of years, they can expect for their communication with product and service providers to become a fully two-way street, in all touchpoints with the brand, and across the entire customer lifecycle.

#NoFilter

Have we mentioned that experts describe the target group for a new age – Gen Zers – as “cynical”? As much as we want to avoid any kind of generalisation (pun intended), such a denotation isn’t entirely wrong. Customer cynicism isn’t an inherent trait; in fact, it’s something that brands are directly responsible for.

Have you ever said or heard a certain phrase so many times that it began losing its meaning? The exactly same thing is happening to the word “authentic” as we speak, especially in relation to branding. No wonder that newer crowds are growingly cynical, since every single thing we can buy is advertised as “authentic”, “organic” “genuine” and “original”.

Ironically, the demand for authenticity is just as high as it was before the concept became so popular. The problem is – we can no longer tell the difference. This isn’t about your brand being more convincing, though. It is about proving what you preach.

Full Transparency

Transparency is a good way to start. Having employed this approach, more companies are now appealing to their customers by making their manufacturing process completely open to the public. If you’re looking to improve your company image, you’ll need to gaze beyond the obvious and make it fully transparent.

Being misleading is no longer possible, and both packaging and product labels will have to prove that you are not. It’s good that a great number of businesses already use recyclable materials and natural ingredients, but what customers really want is to see is a universal overturn in a more ethical and environmentally conscious direction.

Sharing is Caring

Whilst on the subject of changing the world for the better, it’s already safe to say that the modern corporate culture recognizes environmentalism and sharing economy as nothing less than prevailing trends. Though both have gained momentum only recently, they are already making the future a bit brighter.

Besides, the Pantone Colour Institute has already decided that the “fresh and zesty” Greenery will represent this year’s change in the cultural climate. (Hopefully, it will be an unstoppable one.) Companies can join this movement by being more actionable in terms of social responsibility, thus becoming the change they want to see in the world.

Design Centricity

Though environmentalism urges businesses to step out of their online environments and focus on real problems, it by no means implies surpassing the digital. The future will most likely be a combination of two – while brand reputation will greatly depend on how organizations pay their debt to society, the further advancement of technology will dictate new strategic manoeuvres for digital and brick & mortar companies alike.

Design centricity is just one example of businesses staying competitive in the world conquered by digital experiences. A year ago, Forbes called it “The Next Generation of Customer Centricity”, in which dedicated online shoppers and smartphone users determine the UX, but also oblige companies to bring their design game to a whole new level. In result, 9 of 25 businesses started in 2016 have designer co-founders, and that number will certainly double in 2017.

Show, Don’t Tell

Just a few months ago, HBO made 130,000 Game of Thrones fans watch a block of ice melt for no particular reason but exclusivity. People have been going crazy about streaming ever since the arrival of Facebook Live, with businesses following shortly after. Both video content and live streaming are now breaking some serious grounds in digital marketing, so we advise you to stay tuned.

If to that you add virtual reality, it becomes obvious that the Doomsday Clock has started ticking for traditional content. It’ll be awhile until visual experiences replace the written word – for that to start happening, Google’s ranking algorithm would have to change drastically – but hey, history has proved us wrong before. All things considered, it won’t be long before brands are compelled to show rather than tell.

The Westworld Scenario

Google’s already announced that all of its future products will, in one way or another, be based around artificial intelligence. Love it or hate it, chatbots are here to stay: stats show that over 50% of customers expect from a business to be available 24/7, and would rather avoid phoning customer support if they can text them instead. Trend or not, AI is already an important part of customer experience.

No doubt that this will revolutionize the way people communicate with their service providers, but we anticipate the next big thing in product development as well. The Internet of Things is the best example of technology becoming more intelligent, with conversational interfaces displaying huge potential for catering to holistic experiences. Stay watchful, brands, for singularity is on the horizon.  

The future might be scary, but it’s exciting too. One thing is for certain, still: the branding landscape has never been more complex. As far as 2017 goes, authenticity of expression, social responsibility, digital experiences, and artificial intelligence will continue to shape the brand for the new age.